Animals Including Humans: Growth and Basic Needs — Year 2 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: Science KS1 — Animals Including Humans: notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults; find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival; describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.
Overview
Pupils explore how animals, including humans, grow from offspring into adults, and investigate what animals need to survive: food, water, and air. The lesson uses the life stages of familiar animals (frogs, butterflies, humans) to illustrate the concept of growth and change over time, before connecting this to the basic needs that all animals share. Pupils also consider the importance of a healthy lifestyle — exercise, balanced diet, and good hygiene — for human health and wellbeing.
Learning Objectives
- Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.
- Describe the basic needs of animals, including humans: food, water, and air.
- Explain the importance for humans of exercise, a balanced diet, and hygiene.
- Sequence the life stages of a familiar animal and describe the changes at each stage.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Show pupils a set of photographs showing the life stages of three animals: a human (baby, toddler, child, adult, elderly person), a frog (egg, tadpole, froglet, adult frog), and a butterfly (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly). Ask pairs to sort the photographs into order. Take feedback and discuss: what is happening in each stage? What is changing? Introduce the term life cycle and explain that almost all animals go through stages from birth to adulthood.
Explain that all animals — including humans — have offspring that grow into adults. Show a visual of a hen and chick, a dog and puppy, a human parent and baby to make the concept of offspring concrete. Then ask: what does any animal need to stay alive? Collect ideas and organise them around three categories: food, water, and air. Explain that without any one of these, an animal cannot survive. Then shift to humans specifically: we also need exercise, a balanced diet, and good hygiene to be healthy. Show images of different foods from the five food groups and a simple plate showing a balanced meal.
Working in pairs, pupils sequence a set of life stage picture cards for either a frog or a butterfly and write a label for each stage. The teacher works with a focus group to sequence the human life cycle and discuss what needs are present at each stage (a baby cannot feed itself; an adult can make choices about what to eat). Pupils then complete a simple survival needs diagram: three bubbles labelled food, water, air, each with space to draw or write an example.
Pupils design a healthy day for a Year 2 child: they draw or write what the child eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; how they exercise; and two hygiene habits they practise. More confident pupils add an explanation of why each choice is healthy, using vocabulary from the lesson. Less confident pupils use a cut-and-stick activity with pictures of foods, activities, and hygiene habits to build their healthy day.
Use a quick true-or-false quiz (show cards, pupils stand for true, sit for false): Animals need food to survive — true. Humans do not need water — false. Exercise is important for good health — true. A caterpillar is the adult stage of a butterfly — false. Close with the key question: what would happen to an animal if it did not have one of its basic needs met? Take two or three responses to consolidate understanding.
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils sometimes think that all animals look like small versions of their parents from birth — the concept of metamorphosis (caterpillar to butterfly, tadpole to frog) challenges this. Emphasise that these are still offspring growing into adults, just with very different intermediate stages.
- Children may believe that eating only one type of food (e.g. their favourite food) is fine as long as they eat enough of it. Explain that different foods provide different nutrients, and no single food contains everything the body needs.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Ability to identify common animals including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
- Awareness that animals eat different things (carnivore, herbivore, omnivore).
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